Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic

Our Rating

In an attempt to salvage their once envied reputation, Yash Raj Films has teamed up with Kunal Kohli’s production house and have added a few new ingredients to their formula—thoda pyaar, thoda magic. In fact, they’ve even named their next film after this phrase which is directed by Kohli himself and brings back Rani Mukerji and Saif Ali Khan, though in different avatars than usual.

Rani is the thoda magic aspect of the film, playing an angel that comes down (rather, cycles) down to Earth to add thoda pyaar to the lives of Saif and four orphans, saving the day in true-blue Bollywood style.

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy return triumphantly after Taare Zameen Par to compose the music for yet another film centred around kids, but they fail to recreate the same brilliance this time around. Perhaps a higher portion of pyaar and magic were required when putting together this album. Still, it’s enjoyable to an extent.

Shankar Mahadevan helms the feel-good Pyaar Ke Liye which doesn’t stand out as anything particularly extraordinary, but at least its smooth on the ears. Perhaps its his soft voice, the soothing composition of Prasoon Joshi’s apt lyrics, but this track turns out to be one of the best of the album even if it isn’t exactly golden. But who’s complaining? You can’t expect perfection every time.

But it’s the next track that really sweeps you off your feet, with Mahadevan stepping it up a notch, cruising into Nihaal Ho Gayi. In fact, the entire trio along with the lyricist raise the bar with something that’s not perfectly ordinary and a perfect blend of Indian and Western beats. The chorus is fantastic, forcing your feet to start tapping and get into the mood. If there’s any complaint, it’s merely that the composers should have experimented slightly and done something different with the second half of the song. But it’s consistent, and it works. Worth adding to your playlist!

The Nihaal Ho Gayi Remix consists of additional dance beats and a much faster pace and listeners will be happy to know that it doesn’t destroy the songs. It’s still enjoyable, though I personally prefer the original!

Now that you’re expecting great things from the rest of the album, you’ll be sorry to know that things go slightly downhill from here. Sunidhi Chauhan comes onto the scene with Bulbula which is monotonous, in the kindest of words. You know those tedious comedy tracks we used to be forced to endure during the good-old 90’s? This is kind of like one of those—it doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of the album and acts more of a filler than anything else. Sure, it’s peppy, but that’s about it!

On that note we yawn our way into Lazy Lamhe which catches you off guard as a relatively new female singer Anusha Mani creates a fine impression. She immerses herself completely in the song and conveys the seductive yet, for lack of a better word, “lazy” mood of the song. As a composition, it’s nothing truly out of this world, but it’s not terrible and should be interesting to watch Amisha Patel create something out of it on screen. Sometimes, even a songs’ picturisation can make you fall in love with it, so let’s hope Amisha is able to do the same with this track. As a song on its own, it’s about average, with awkward lyrics. Either way, give it a go even if it’s just to hear Anusha Mani’s unique voice!

The second version, Lazy Lamhe Remix, is once again just faster paced and created for the club scene. It doesn’t add to the song, nor does it take away, so no complaints (or praise for that matter) on this front!

Beetey Kal Se is yet another one that you can’t really love or hate, but just tolerate. It’s great to hear Shreya Ghoshal, the woman can do wonders with even the most ordinary of songs. But even she doesn’t get much scope to exhibit her talent in this track which works only to an extent. The problem with it is that it seems to lack direction, it just goes on and on and there’s nothing really exciting about it. It doesn’t touch you emotionally, doesn’t get you charged, it’s kind of just there. And with songs like that, the listener just remains indifferent.

When all is said and done, the album starts off well and suddenly loses its spunk. No, you don’t cringe, you don’t instantly want to turn it off and you don’t want to plug your ears. But you don’t exactly jump for joy either! In fact, you’re almost apathetic to an album that doesn’t offer anything worth giving more than a few listens. In a film centred around emotions, you’d expect a somewhat touching soundtrack, but no track really makes its way into your heart. Nihaal Ho Gayi and Pyaar Ke Liye give you something to smile about while Lazy Lamhe has potential, but most of the tracks are quite ordinary. Let’s get real here, if this album didn’t have Rani Mukerji or Saif Ali Khan on the cover along with the YRF logo, it probably wouldn’t get much attention.